Jaywalking girl apologizes to cop who punched her

The 17-year-old girl punched in the face by a cop in the jaywalking stop heard around the world did something surprising on Friday. She met with the officer and apologized.

The punch, by Officer Ian Walsh, started as a jaywalking stop on Monday. It was caught on video, went viral and caused a media turmoil. Because the girl is black and Walsh is white, the incident also caused concern in the African American community.

James Kelly, CEO of Urban League of Metropolitan Seattle, said the two met in a North Seattle community center. He was also there.

The girl and “Officer Walsh have been in every major media report in the country since their Monday confrontation. At my request, the two met today just to see if we could calm down a growing volatile situation. This is the first steps toward reconciliation and healing,” Kelly said in statement.”

He said the teen wanted to say she was sorry, and Walsh agreed to meet with her.

“This was not about cameras, and charges, and lawsuits and people getting into their own silo’s and protecting their own turf: this is about two human beings who might offer the rest of us a chance of learning from a situation which could present itself any time in any neighborhood with any one of us,” Kelly said.

“Our job has been to calm explosive confrontations and get everyone thinking before reacting – to offer some considerate listening to an environment of screaming and yelling.”

“Today I think we accomplished this. I want to personally thank …(the teen) for coming forward to apologize for her part in the situation on Monday over by Franklin High, and I want to thank Ian Walsh for meeting with her and accepting her apology.”

Kelly said he arranged the meeting, hoping to bring some reconciliation and to ease tensions in the community. “I just wanted to ratchet this down so we can start thinking rationally,” he said in an interview.

The North Seattle site was chosen, he said, to “be off everyone’s turf.”

Marilyn Levias, a 19-year-old who faces a charge of obstructing an officer in the incident, was not at the meeting. She couldn’t be reached, but her lawyer was there, Kelly said.